Herbies’ stress balls

But it might surprise you to learn that one of the UK’s top firms has properly acknowledged this fact by launching a mental health training scheme.

As we report today, Herbert Smith is extending a scheme it piloted earlier this year, aimed at helping people deal with stress and mental illness, to all of its employees.

The recession has left record numbers of lawyers suffering from depression. For most, the typical response is to try and get on with their work and ignore the symptoms, be they unusual tetchiness or the bottle of voddie in the bottom draw.

To say that approach is unhealthy is an understatement.

Herbies is not alone in the City in recognising the seriousness of this problem for its lawyers and staff, but in offering genuine practical help to cope it’s taken a lead that others would do well to follow (see story).